Luxury resort bargain shopping
I have never suggested on this blog the best resorts to stay in Vegas. It seems self-evident that it really is about dollars. Obviously, a family with children may enjoy Circus Circus more than someone else who might find the older property only a great place to gag on the smell of stale cigarettes. But the Strip is meant to be explored; you can stay at Bellagio and still head to Circus Circus with the kids for a brief visit.
The problem is really money. How much do you want to spend for a hotel room you may not spend much time at during your vacation? And, as many travel writers have pointed out, warehousing yourself on the Strip has never been cheaper. If you want to fork out around $35, you can probably find a room at, say, Imperial Palace on a weeknight. But the plunge in room rates so dramatically over the last six months has meant that, for the first time, even the most luxurious hotels in Vegas can be rented at unbelievably low rates. So, I have a new hobby. I love luxury resort bargain shopping for staycations. You will get more out of this practice than I do, because the offers and specials really are geared to bringing tourists here. Also, the discount potential increases the more nights you stay at a resort, and I am going places only for a single night.
The goal for me is to find a room at a top-tier resort for $100 or less a night. My list of top tier includes: Wynn, Encore, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Palazzo and Mirage. I have left off Trump as it is a nongaming property and Four Seasons, which is a nongaming hotel and part of Mandalay Bay. I admit this list is subjective. The Mirage, for example, stands out as a hotel where some would disagree with my assigning it to the top rank. My reasoning is that thanks to the nightclub Jet, and entertainment that includes two hot shows ("Terry Fator" and Cirque's "Love"), Mirage has become a destination resort for many. On the other hand, I left off Caesars because I think the older property needs some work, including fixing up and cleaning up, before being as comfortable a place to stay as its newer competitors..
The No. 1 rule for luxury bargain hunting: Be flexible about dates in general and avoid weekends in particular.
That last part might be difficult for people looking for a weekend getaway. But consider the price difference in the basic Web rate for Mandalay Bay on a weeknight compared with a weekend. For $110 you can have a room on Thursday, April 23. But if you want the same room on Saturday, two days later, you will have to pay $350. And, that isn't the final twist. Saturday, April 25, is marked as a "No Arrival" day for Mandalay Bay. That means you would have to arrive at least a day before -- that extra Friday night will cost you an additional $210.
Sometimes Sunday, but usually Tuesday and Wednesday seem the days to pick up the best values. I would plan a Sunday to Wednesday vacation. There is plenty to do in Vegas 24/7, so don't worry about the town being closed. The numbers change and move swiftly right now on room rates, so check back at resort sites frequently if you don't find a rate you like. But an hour on the Web should allow anyone with a flexible schedule and minimal effort to find a night to stay at any luxury hotel on the Strip for around $150. And if you want to stay more than one night, you should be able to make that number go down. That is fairly easy to do. So all the rest is fighting over about $50 or less a weeknight.
For me the challenge remains the $100 room. Right now they are easy to find at a great hotel like Mandalay Bay. The key though is to be flexible. I concede I have not found a night at Wynn or Encore for $100 -- yet. For now Steve Wynn's customer service reputation makes me happy to pay a little extra for his properties. Or, I may find a night at Bellagio for $129 and decide I am reaching diminishing returns to save $29. But here is where you have an advantage: I am looking for only the best room prices. And since room rates are all I care about, there is nothing the resort can do that sweetens the deal for me. But who goes to Vegas to stay in a hotel room, even a luxury one, except a resident? You are probably here to do things; right now the resorts are putting together packages along with these amazing room rates where you can factor in discounts on food, shows, golf, spas or credits that can be used anywhere in the resort. Again, that is along with the low room rate.
So, instead of trying to find the cheapest room on the Strip, why not consider getting the most luxurious room on the cheap?
Photo: Sarah Gerke
While I agree with your list, even your reasoning for including the Mirage, but not including Caesers? The Augustus Tower is very nice. Is it because not every room is up to that standard? I assume you gave up on the MGM Skylofts for the same reason.
Posted by: Bobak | April 05, 2009 at 12:14 AM
Thanks for reading. My thinking was resorts do not give their best rooms as bargains. They are for the rich and gamblers. So, yes, that is why. I do not think anyone is getting in MGM Skyloffs or the Palms Fantasy Tower rooms, or any of those places in the $100 range. If you know otherwise, please share. I want in! Yrs., R.
Posted by: Richard Abowitz | April 05, 2009 at 05:40 AM
I was actually hoping you'd find a way and let us know. :-)
Posted by: Bobak | April 05, 2009 at 04:07 PM
Priceline. Most of the 4* rooms are coming up at $100.
Posted by: Lysa | April 06, 2009 at 03:36 PM
Priceline's rankings are very dubious. They have very loose interpertations of "****". From my own past experiences, I wouldn't trust Priceline's interpretation of luxury any further than I could throw William Shatner.
Posted by: Bobak | April 07, 2009 at 01:54 AM
I just read today that at Treasure Island, during weekdays through the month of May this year, you can get a room for about $79.00, even after Ruffin (the owner) says he doesn't like it, but he has to go with the trend that all the other casinos have set. And that trend is the costs are plummeting faster and faster. Because they can't get them filled and get the patronage like they used to get.
Another news item today is the Las Vegas Convention Visitors Authority have teamed up with Strip casinos and special deals in casinos are in store for locals who show up with identification that proves they are indeed local residents. Room rates, gambling, spa and other stuff. An effort to try to get more business to supplement the lack of volume of tourist spending.
Reason I find this hilarious is because this overturns a trend a lot of residents here have seen throughout the years. Ever since control of Strip casinos was wrested away from "mob" influence and turned corporate, which may or may not be much difference, casinos on the Strip, without saying it openly, wanted tourists to come in there and spend....not locals. At least for this decade, this seems to be the norm. Most old timers here in Las Vegas all agree that things were better when the "mob" had influence with the casinos....mainly because they DID take care of locals. That trend changed when it was cleaned up and turned into crime free, corporate run Strip casinos, who clearly exhibited that they could care less about locals frequenting their establishments. They clearly wanted tourists. Their belief was that locals won't spend, tourists will. And this may be so.
But now, it's come full circle again. They seem to not have enough tourists and are not making the winnings like they used to (although they are still winning, but they make it sound like they are losing money), so let's switch and get locals in here and take their money. Local people are good now and so they must treat them better, not like before where they'd ignore them and chase them off. Perhaps they were wrong in their assessment and are changing. The thinking by the owners of the Strip casino is now let's get locals in here, who perhaps made money from casino jobs, get their money back circulating with us. Let's just strangle them til they gamble all their money away and they foreclose on property and we can totally destroy any and all vestiges of any civilization and/or economic recovery in Las Vegas and listen to their last dying gasp too, but before that make them think we like them. Let's pretend like we're taking care of the locals, but really the focus is we want their money and we want it ALL.
Well, it's funny, but these people that came up with this bright idea don't understand something. MOST locals don't gamble. We live here and KNOW that the only people who make out winning at gambling are the people who OWN casinos. NO one else wins. Period. Most locals work at casinos, get their paycheck, go home and spend their money trying to live, but NOT spend it at the casino they work at...because you are not getting anything there except a paycheck. And we all know that.
Gambling is and always has been an entertainment and a luxury. Very few people can make a living gambling...or can get ahead and get rich at it. Don't get me wrong, tourists love to come here and gamble for fun. And if they lose a little bit, it's okay, because it's fun. However, most locals I know cannot and will not afford this luxury and actually live in the real world and understand all what I have typed above. Nor will they succumb to temptations to gamble all the time. If they do, they know they are headed for economic ruin and will end up leaving here. Many have done this in the past and will in the future. Just the way it is. And it ain't gonna change yet.
The Visitors Authority has lost all sense of reason. They are listening to Strip casino owners harebrained ideas that they want to make more and more money and don't care how they do it, even at the locals' expense. And the Visitors Authority says, yeah, okay, we gotta do something, so, what the hell, sounds like a good idea, and it makes us sound like we care and are doing something earth shattering. They don't seem to understand reality. Way to go, Visitors Authority. Let's just rip Las Vegas to shreds.
Posted by: ColinFromLasVegas | April 17, 2009 at 09:15 AM